It is our ambition that every school should have an Oracy Leader and that all teachers should have access to high quality oracy professional development. Those leading oracy across a school must support teachers to embed oracy in their practice, whilst also convincing them that it has value and supports learning. In short, they must be experts in, as well as advocates for, oracy. Our Oracy Leaders programme support teachers to meet these challenges.


Key components

Our programme consists of three key components which ensure that you have the relevant knowledge, skills and tools to support your students to learn through and to talk:

Practice

Experience a whole-school culture of oracy and consider how this can be created in your school

Practice

Undertake an Impact Project to identify and develop best practice in your classroom and beyond

Leadership

Lead whole-school change and evaluate impact

Leadership

Support other teachers to become expert oracy practitioners

Expertise
Practice
Leadership

Expertise

Critically engage with the research surrounding oracy

Expertise

Develop an in-depth understanding of effective oracy-based classroom practice

Expertise

Explore theories of whole-school change

As an Oracy Leader, you will:

  • Work alongside researchers to develop a more comprehensive understanding of good practice in oracy.
  • Evaluate current oracy provision in your school, using these findings to develop a whole-school vision for oracy and identifying strategic priorities.
  • Acquire a variety of leadership tools to reflect and develop on your own practice, whilst also embedding and enhancing the practice of others.
  • Join a national network of educational leaders who are at the forefront of the oracy movement, working together to raise its status in schools across the UK.

This programme is for you if:

  • You are a primary or secondary teacher passionate about oracy and the difference it could make to the pupils across your school.
  • You have already embedded oracy in your own classroom and are now ready to lead this innovative pedagogy across your whole school.
  • Your school has identified oracy as a priority and are ready to lead it at a whole-school level.
  • You are an ambassador for oracy, ready to influence the national education debate.

Get involved

Duration

Six professional development days over one academic year

Location

Residential weekend, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge

All other days: London

Costs

• Primary Schools: £1,500

• Secondary Schools: £2,000

Applications for our National Oracy Leaders Programme open in March 2020. To be notified when our applications open, please register your interest below.

Register your interest

Rebecca Want

Assistant Headteacher, Huntington Academy
National Oracy Leaders Programme participant 2017-2018

Not only have the Voice 21 team been incredible in their delivery of high quality CPD, I have felt the visits to the school to see practice, webinars and excellent communication links have made me feel very supported throughout.

I genuinely feel that the Voice 21 team are just as dedicated as the individual school leaders to making this approach work in each and every setting. I have enjoyed this experience and I have been so inspired by their vision and research, that I have applied to train with them as facilitator.

Gillian Russell

Coppice Primary School
National Oracy Leaders Programme participant 2018-2019

It was an inspiring experience, which I have absolutely no doubt, has changed the life chances of many pupils at Coppice primary School.

Julie Gibson

Whole School Oracy & Literacy Lead at Park View School, Chester le Street
National Oracy Leaders Programme participant 2017-2018

For me, at the centre is the belief that we all have something worth saying. To develop oracy is to develop individuals who know and understand their own worth and that of others, to create collaborative and empathetic individuals who understand and invest in the importance of community and who can use their voices for the good of themselves and others.

© 2019 Voice 21
Voice 21 operates as an organisation under the School 21 Foundation, a registered charity in England and Wales.
Registration number 1152672 | Company no. 08165798